Wireless Connection for Latitude D510

I have a Dell Latitude D510, and I cannot connect it to my Netgear Wireless Router. My desktop is connecting fine (using a USB wireless hub) With my laptop, I can see the router, and I try to connect to it, and after it connects to it, it tells me I am not connected. (Even though I am apparently connected, since the only option I have is to disconnect from the connection) Any suggestions?

If you don't have all the wireless security options set correctly or don't have the TCP/IP options set correctly, the wireless adapter will go through a connected state and then disconnect.

Make sure you are not doing MAC security filtering at the wireless router or if you are make sure you have the MAC address entered correctly.

You probably have the network set up to obtain a IP address automatically from the DCHP function in the router.

You have to have the network SSID correct, the WPA vs WEP the TKIP vs AES, etc., etc. all in agreement ... I don't know how many of these have to be correct to get to the "connected" stage.

My most recent problem in this area was that I was set up with AES and a long pre-shared key and then a new Dell laptop arrived with an older wireless card and I had to change to TKIP. The only spec on the TKIP pre-shared key length was in the router manual (8-63 characters). A newer wireless card in a different laptop worked just fine after being changed from AES to TKIP. The Dell software driver support for the wireless card in the "new" laptop however does not support a long key. I got it working by going to a single character key and then gradually increased the key length until it failed and then backed up to where it worked ... 22 characters.

When it was failing, I was cycling between connected and disconnected ... those neat little pop up balloon messages pointing to the system tray icons.

I have no idea how many of these little quirks there are in this area but you get the idea. The externals for each wireless device look the same since Microsoft Windows provides the front end that parses the data BUT then the unique device driver has to handle it and that is how/why one device will work and another will fail.